The narcissism of the trans movement

‘Professors bullied into silence as students cry transphobia.’ So ran a headline in The Sunday Times at the weekend. According to the report, more than a dozen academics, including several feminist professors, fear their voices are being silenced by students complaining that they are transphobic. They say that the questioning of transgender policies is being censored on campus.

One leading feminist academic, Selina Todd, a professor of modern history at Oxford, has been subject to a Facebook petition about comments she made on social media, and now has been told by students that she will face a campaign in the autumn for her to be sacked. ‘It is intimidating and isolating’, Todd told the Sunday Times. ‘The view of these activists is that anyone who feels themselves to be a woman should be allowed to call themselves such. Questioning that desire is seen as hate speech that could be harmful.’

To question’s someone’s identity or personhood, especially one’s chosen gender, is one of the most profound transgressions one can make in liberal circles today. And the key word here is ‘chosen’, because at the very heart of the trans wars is the concept of ‘choice’.

When a biological man decides to identify as a woman (or vice versa) they do so out of choice. This is why trans people become so indignant when their adopted gender is called into question: not only is it perceived as an affront to their selfhood, but it is also an insult to their intelligence. It is a slight against their wisdom of ‘choice’.

‘Choice’ is one of those virtues that transcends political divisions. Liberals praise it in the social sphere while the right exalt it in the economic sphere. In both cases, it reflects a veneration of individualism, which in recent years has degenerated into a culture of narcissism and self-obsession. This culture has many manifestations: the selfie, Instagram, identity politics, the culture of taking offence (‘you have hurt my feelings!’), trigger warnings (‘you have mentally damaged me!’) and Safe Spaces.

Perhaps the most perfect embodiment of the culture of narcissism and attention-seeking is the trans movement, in which all the world collapses upon Me. Everything becomes about celebrating Me and my brilliant, audacious ‘bravery’. No wonder trans people become so angry when people question the authenticity of their new identity. Wouldn’t you if someone said you are not really you?

The rich can afford to be woke

‘Luxury beliefs’ are the latest status symbol for Americans. Whereas in the past the upper class in the United States would display their social status with luxury goods, today they do so with luxury beliefs. This is the thesis recently put forward by the psychologist Rob Henderson.

Henderson holds that social status is intrinsic to our sense of wellbeing, and that we feel under pressure to display our status in new ways. A traditional method has been to be seen wearing the latest expensive fashion. But, Henderson notes, since trendy clothes and other products that confer wealth have become more accessible and affordable, there is increasingly less status attached to luxury goods.

‘The upper classes have found a clever solution to this problem: luxury beliefs. These are ideas and opinions that confer status on the rich at very little cost, while taking a toll on the lower class’, he writes. For instance, one luxury belief articulated in recent decades is that marriage and the traditional two-parent family are outdated or a sham. Affluent people seldom have children out of wedlock, but are more likely than others to express the luxury belief that doing so is of no consequence. Yet out-of-wedlock birth rates in the US, he goes on, are 10 times what they were in the 1960s, mostly affecting the poor and working class.

Another luxury belief is that religion is irrational or harmful. Henderson notes that members of the upper class are most likely to be atheists or non-religious – but they can afford to be so, as they ‘have the resources and access to thrive without the unifying social edifice of religion’. Yet for working-class communities, places of worship are essential for social fabric. ‘Denigrating the importance of religion harms the poor.’

Perhaps the most dishonest luxury belief is that of ‘white privilege’. Members of the upper class claim that racial disparities derive from inherent advantages held by whites, despite the fact that Asian-Americans have higher earnings than whites. The paradox is that while affluent whites are the most enthusiastic about the idea of white privilege, they are the least likely to incur any costs for promoting that belief. Any laws enacted to combat privilege won’t harm them. Instead, poor whites will bear the brunt.

I find the idea of ‘luxury beliefs’ fascinating. And utterly compelling. In recent decades there has been a greater understanding that people say certain things or spout liberal political opinions, often insincerely, to improve their social standing. Indeed, it was the central thesis of my short 2003 book Conspicuous Compassion. More widely known today as ‘virtue-signalling’, it’s one of the hallmarks of our digital age.

What’s interesting about the latest interpretation by Henderson is that it points us not only to the egotism and hypocrisy of the utterer, but also to the terrible social consequences of his or her egotism. Here’s hoping ‘luxury beliefs’ becomes common parlance.

Owen Jones on being attacked on a Friday night

‘I was attacked outside a pub on Saturday night.’

‘I was karate kicked outside a pub on Saturday night.’

‘I was attacked with military precision.’

‘I was attacked by the SAS.’

‘I was attacked by neo-Nazis.’

‘I was attacked by actual Nazis. “For you, Owen, ze war is over”, said the lead Nazi. And then they packed me off to Colditz.’

‘I was attacked by some Peaky Blinders. “Naowun insults the fooking Peaker Blinders”, said one, before clubbing me with the butt of a Ballester-Molina pistol.’

‘I was attacked by a gang of marauding Aztecs who threatened to “cut me” and tear my heart out as a sacrifice to their gods.’

‘I was attacked by the cast of the popular 1990s panel show Whose Line Is It Anyway?. There I was, minding my own business, when along came Josie Lawrence, Ryan Stiles, Mike McShane and Tony Slattery, armed with dangerous comedy props provided to them by Clive Anderson.’

‘I was attacked, verbally at least, by Cliff from Cheers, who threatened me with a “little known fact”. Just because I’m gay and a socialist.’

Jones was later asked at a press conference whether he was just attacked by a drunk, a familiar incident at closing time on Friday evenings. ‘Don’t be such a fantasist!’, he replied, angrily.

Christopher Tyson

24th August 2019 at 9:13 am

So Glasgow University is going to pay out £20 million for slavery reparations. While Cambridge University has been taking the flak, Glasgow has quietly established the precedent. Other institutions can now follow suit and make payments of their own. We have gone from a position of denial of the role of the Atlantic slave trade in the economic development of Europe, to one where people who weren’t alive at the time are paying off people who weren’t alive at the time. The historical facts remain the same, and the idea that you can right historical wrongs by paying out compensation is historically specific to our own time. Those paying the money will feel better about themselves, I nearly said salve their consciences, but what consciences, they didn’t do anything? More realistically they are paying off the slavery repatriation lobby. The Caribbean was built on slavery but there is much more to the Caribbean and the Caribbean people than that. We seem to have this historical narrative, slavery, Windrush, deportation. What were the West Indian people doing between the abolition of slavery and the mass migrations of the 1950s? What were those who stayed at home up to? What about the independence movements which were often positive and forward looking, my own West Indian parents and grandparents were never interest in slavery reparation, they wanted to build a future. Today some would no doubt say that they were suffering from false consciousness. My grand dad founded a company in the Caribbean that is still going strong although he died in the 1980s. Recently I’ve received a few quid (not life changing) follow the death of my aunt who had shares in the company, it is nice to get some money for nothing, not everyone has an aunt who will leave them shares, who am I to say that black people shouldn’t take the money that is being offered? In the case of Glasgow reports have said that the money will go to the University of the West Indies. Did you know that they have middle class people in the West Indies, you will find them at places like the University of the West Indies. White middle class academics will be handing over £20 million to black middle class academics and they will work on joint ventures. Perhaps some conflict of interest here with a whole new industry of academics as compensation lawyers, rather than academic integrity. In the west we have moved away from authoritarian states with jackboots and rubber truncheons, towards a therapeutic state, paternalistic state. The University of Glasgow building bridges with the University doling out money and soothing their pain, finding like minded placemen to do business with, a therapeutic colonialism for our age. It’s nice to receive money for nothing but rare, there’s usually an angle.

Hana Jinks

24th August 2019 at 9:55 am

Loved this post.

Neil OL

24th August 2019 at 8:59 pm

You should be a columnist on spiked! Great piece.

ZENOBIA PALMYRA

24th August 2019 at 11:26 pm

Yawn. Did it take you a long time to write that essay?

JeanClawed Brexit

26th August 2019 at 7:36 pm

Good shout, thanks Chris

Hana Jinks

26th August 2019 at 8:15 pm

LOL..that’s one of the funniest names I’ve ever seen.

Hugh Gibney

23rd August 2019 at 11:30 pm

Congratulations to Patrick West for his article (or, rather, two articles: “The narcissism of the trans movement” and “The rich can afford to be woke”).

As for trans activists considering that their intelligence is being insulted if the ‘identity’ they decide to choose for themselves is questioned, ‘intelligence’ is a quality I don’t readily associate with the views of these people.

Actually, I don’t mind what trans activists claim to be in terms of their gender as long as they don’t seek to compel others to agree with their claims in this respect. However, isn’t that, i.e. seeking to compel others to agree with their claims in this respect, what they’re doing?

ZENOBIA PALMYRA

23rd August 2019 at 6:49 pm

‘When a biological man decides to identify as a woman (or vice versa) they do so out of choice.’ —

The aetiology of transexuality is unclear. However, a ‘choice’ between committing suicide because you cannot live with yourself as you are or ‘changing sex’ is not much of a ‘choice’ is it? So-called ‘transexuality’ is not a ‘lifestyle choice’ but a choice to live and not die. I think most of us, if faced with that ‘choice’, would do the same thing.

Hana Jinks

23rd August 2019 at 9:53 pm

If someone is telling them tp chop their parts off to avoid suicide, then they’re probably receiving advice from the same spirit that is telling others’ to chop out the genitals of their daughter in the name of allah.

ZENOBIA PALMYRA

24th August 2019 at 11:29 pm

Gender dysphoria is recorded throughout human history. Do you have a magic wand for healing all mental and physical afflictions? Remember, the Dark Lord is also rather fond of pharisees…

Hana Jinks

25th August 2019 at 12:01 am

Yep. So much so, that he seems to have made an everlasting pact with them.
How distressing would it be for you if l labelled you a nazi or heaven-forbid, a Chelsea supporter? Truth is the magic-wand you allude to. It allways starts out pretty benign, but it doesn’t take long before bits start getting chopped off and baby’s sacrificed. If God made you a man, then no matter what anyone tries to tell you, you are a man and the chromosomes back that up. If somebody has been tormented to the point of self-mutilation, then they’ve been fed lies by leftists.

Hana Jinks

25th August 2019 at 12:06 am

*babies

Neil OL

24th August 2019 at 9:28 pm

That sounds like mental illness to me. Mutilating ones own genitalia in the belief that it will bring peace of mind sounds like a bit of a paradox, or the madness of paradox anyway. They are free to do this of course, the NHS will even do it for free. However when trans minority groups aggressively push their demands upon the silent majority then their horrific narcissism shows its true face.

Frank Sutton

23rd August 2019 at 2:48 pm

Students have always campaigned for daft causes im order to display their radical credentials (they can’t all be willy deniers). What would be shocking would be for the university authorities to pay them any attention.

Anthony Dennison

23rd August 2019 at 2:13 pm

The far left always eat themselves alive with identity politics, as the far left Professor has found out.

ZENOBIA PALMYRA

23rd August 2019 at 6:53 pm

I fail to see what so-called ‘transexuality’ has got to do with far left identity politics.

JeanClawed Brexit

26th August 2019 at 7:50 pm

How many genders are there ?

When I enter my dogs into a show the only options are dog & bitch, male & female …so 2 genders…. so why are the PC brigade going after people who say they believe there are only 2 genders.

Neil McCaughan

23rd August 2019 at 1:52 pm

The piece on luxury beliefs was clearly a veiled racist attack on the poor princess of Trashy, just for taking a well earned holiday straight after her, erm, well earned holiday. As Jonnie Hennly would tell you, slebs and establishment liberals are moral paragons. He read that in his beloved Hello magazine, so it must be true.

Alex Ander

23rd August 2019 at 12:39 pm

I’m quite intrigued by this theory of ‘luxury beliefs’. I think it’s an accurate observation, but I really want to know why specific beliefs held on to and why they have genuine equity in terms of improving social status. Are ‘luxury beliefs’ really that calculated by those that hold to them?

The trans movement is a good example, but I’m more interesting in what is the underlying reason in the first place that has made is a ‘luxury belief’ rather than simply identifying it a a ‘luxury belief’.

L Denella

26th August 2019 at 8:59 pm

If ‘luxury beliefs’ is a response to status symbols becoming “more accessible and affordable,” why would the rich choose beliefs to be status symbols? Beliefs are pretty much the most accessible and affordable things around, and don’t really do a good job at connoting how much money you have.

If being transgender is a ‘luxury belief adopted by the rich’, why are transgender people statistically much poorer than average?

Jane 70

23rd August 2019 at 12:20 pm

O for the days when the UK was renowned for its irreverent humour, common sense and robust rejection of posturing self righteousness.

ZENOBIA PALMYRA

23rd August 2019 at 6:56 pm

Was that when you were economically rap-ing developing countries with your imperialist policies? I’m sure they weren’t laughing then.

Hana Jinks

26th August 2019 at 11:36 pm

Nope.

Martin Bishop

23rd August 2019 at 12:11 pm

Does someone’s belief differ from your own? They must be middle class with ‘luxury beliefs’ then.

Danny Rees

23rd August 2019 at 11:31 am

Spiked, the world where white men are terribly oppressed and we should all rush to defend them but trans women are “narcissistic” in fighting for their rights and if they defend themselves they are being a bunch of intolerant bullies.

KL

ZENOBIA PALMYRA

23rd August 2019 at 6:55 pm

You got it in one. Some of the ‘hetero’ commentators here seem very frightened of tg people. Pathetic.

JeanClawed Brexit

26th August 2019 at 7:54 pm

Its is quite reasonable to be uncomfortable with people acting in ways you don’t understand or like. Even “frightened” of them.

I would want to know that someone who is presenting themselves as a woman, was a genuine woman, for all sorts of reasons. Why do you think it is OK for me & others to be duped ?

Ward Anthony

28th August 2019 at 5:28 am

It doesn’t occur to you Danny that prior to transitioning those trans women were probably white men?

Amelia Cantor

23rd August 2019 at 10:41 am

It is not “narcissistic” for a vulnerable community to stand up for itself against hate. Nor is it narcissistic when a vulnerable community cultivate healthy levels of self-esteem to combat the toxic effects of centuries of demonization and denigration.

The accusation of “narcissism” is also highly ironic when it is levelled by the relentlessly publicity-seeking and contrarian Revolutionary Communist Party, who are dedicated students of the exceedingly vain and posturing Leon Trotsky. The trans community want equality and tolerance and an end to hate, nothing more. The Trotskyist community want to kick the rest of us around while telling us we’ve been liberated.

gershwin gentile

23rd August 2019 at 11:16 am

Ah, it’s the racist nonce apologist.
“West is blowing smoke and fantasizing that the hate-crime against Owen Jones didn’t happen. But it did happen. And it was proof of the core toxicity of “free speech”.”

Until someone admits to the attack, let’s assume that serial liar Jones is lying. Yeah?

Danny Rees

Ven Oods

Another possibility is that Owen has chosen to identify as someone who’s been attacked. So we should all respect that.

Ven Oods

23rd August 2019 at 5:09 pm

“the toxic effects of centuries of demonization and denigration”

The drugs and surgery necessary for transitioning have been around that long?

ZENOBIA PALMYRA

24th August 2019 at 11:30 pm

No, but the phenomenon of gender dysphoria has been recorded throughout human history. There is nothing new about ‘transexuality’.

Bronk’s Funeral

23rd August 2019 at 9:51 am

What on *Earth* is going on with that last bit?

Amelia Cantor

23rd August 2019 at 10:45 am

West is blowing smoke and fantasizing that the hate-crime against Owen Jones didn’t happen. But it did happen. And it was proof of the core toxicity of “free speech”.

AMANDA HUGINKISS

23rd August 2019 at 12:12 pm

How do you know it actually happened and for the reasons that Owen has stated? In a city awash with CCTV where is this proof? The police have nothing to go on either!
Owen on the other hand managed to establish that it was a deliberate attack against his “gayness” his “socialism” and his “beliefs”… how convenient!
Sure it wasn’t another Jussie Smollett incident?

AMANDA HUGINKISS

23rd August 2019 at 12:12 pm

And free speech being toxic? You’re on the wrong page princess.

JeanClawed Brexit

26th August 2019 at 9:11 pm

Free speech is great, which is why I am here rather than the grauniad where my even my innocuous comments disappear and I am often “pre-moderated”.

Having said that .. I agree with you about the nasty attack on OJ, and how it was covered above, as if it was a joke. But by the same token the left laugh off physical attacks on Tommy Robinson, Sargon of Akkad & Farage. I hope you are going to condemn them as well, if you do not then you are stoking the flames of conflict every bit as much as those making the silly remarks above.

Gregory Buswell

23rd August 2019 at 8:59 am

Trying to get someone sacked when they make a factually correct comment should be a criminal offence.

British people used to be renowned for our thick skins and sense of humour but these are both dying out at an alarming rate, all because a minority of self-obsessed narcissists can’t accept opposing opinions.